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Doubt
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” – Philippians 2:12-13 Doubt is not a bad thing. We're supposed to question God. God is not afraid of hard questions. When we ask them, if we seek an unbiased answer, it strengthens our faith. Warning: An unanswered question is worthless. Worse than a worthless unanswered question, however, is a question answered with bias. Seek answers to your questions, without bias, and I'm quite sure you'll be impressed with what you find. 'Bad Things Happen so God Does Not Exist ' God doesn't exist to serve us, to make our lives idyllic and peaceful. To say that natural disasters can cause you to lose faith in God suggests that your idea of God and God's purpose might be off, a bit. In fact, scripture says that these types of things would happen. Our job as Christians is to pray for those that need prayer, to assist in ways that we can, and to be the "hands and feet" of Jesus, ministering to others. You don't have to go to Japan to minister to people; you can support those who are going to help, can even help the families of those who are remaining behind while their loved ones go help, can contribute supplies and funds, and other such ways. 'Dr. Bob's own Doubts in Faith' I spent a great deal of my life doubting my own faith. I eventually realized that I was depending too much on having an intellectual understanding of things (no surprise there, I'm sure), and not focusing on my relationship to God enough. I've found that if I'm regularly in prayer, if I'm meeting with other Christians, my relationship with God is stronger. Everyone knows that, of course, but somehow I didn't for a long time. I neglected the relationship, and then worried when the relationship grew weak. I still find that I have doubts. I think everyone does. For me, they're not the faith-shaking doubts that make me question what's true, but they are the kind of doubts that make you examine what it is you believe and why. "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. " - Philippians 2:12-13 I take that verse to mean that questioning what we believe and why we believe it is beneficial, because dealing with the questions of faith makes us stronger. I also think it suggests that it's God that's prompting us with those questions, helping us grow in our faith and our trust in him. I still forget that God is not afraid of the hard questions. The hard questions, properly answered, always yield answers that lead us to God. Category:Dr. Bobisms